A Message By Charles Stanley

READ John 14:6-11
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+14&version=NIV

A large percentage of westerners claim to "know God" and therefore call themselves Christians. But many of them do not believe in Jesus or His assertion that He is the Son of God. A person cannot know the Father and be His child unless he or she has received Jesus Christ and entered into a personal relationship with Him.

Jesus is the doorway to salvation.

It's not enough to "know God" in the sense of simply realizing there is a supreme Deity. Jesus said that without faith in Him, it is impossible to come to the Father (v. 6). Since God is holy, He cannot tolerate sin in His presence. But all people are sinners (Ps. 53:1-3). Jesus died in our place to pay our debt and thereby bridged the gap between impure man and holy God. Any person who receives His sacrifice for sin is forgiven, declared righteous, and welcomed into fellowship with God.
Jesus is the doorway to revelation.

He was the earthly representation of His Father in heaven. Christ's life among men provides the most complete picture we have of God the Father. Through the Son's actions, choices, and teachings, we learn how the Almighty thinks and what He desires from His followers.

Jesus said that He and His Father are one (John 10:30). Omitting Christ from religious beliefs or practice leaves people with a narrow and inaccurate view of their Creator. We can't know God unless we get to know the Son, whose twofold purpose is to reveal His Father and bring people into relationship with Him.

Happy Easter!

Praise be to Jesus now and forever.
Happy Easter!
Do check out the following pages from the blog:

http://kiranmj.blogspot.com/2009/04/hosanna-sunday.html
http://kiranmj.blogspot.com/2009/04/maundy-thursday.html
Maundy Thursday
http://kiranmj.blogspot.com/2009/04/easter.html
http://kiranmj.blogspot.com/2010/04/way-of-cross-malayalam.html
http://kiranmj.blogspot.com/2010/04/way-of-cross-for-children.html
http://kiranmj.blogspot.com/2010/04/marys-way-of-cross-narrated-by-angelina.html
http://kiranmj.blogspot.com/2010/04/way-of-cross.html
http://kiranmj.blogspot.com/2010/04/why-we-celebrate-good-friday.html

Pearls

The cheerful girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them: a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box.

"Oh please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please!"

Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face."A dollar ninety-five. That's almost $2.00 If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma."

As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies.

After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.

Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere--Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed.The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story.

One night when he finished the story, he asked Jenny, "Do you love me?"

"Oh yes, Daddy. You know that I love you."

"Then give me your pearls."

"Oh, Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess--the white horse from my collection. The one with the pink tail. Remember, Daddy?

The one you gave me. She's my favorite."

"That's okay, Honey. Daddy loves you. Good night." And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

About a week later, after the story time, Jenny's daddy asked again, "Do you love me?"

"Daddy, you know I love you."

"Then give me your pearls."

"Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is so beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper."

"That's okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you." And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.

A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian-style.

 As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek.

"What is it, Jenny? What's the matter?"

Jenny didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, "Here, Daddy. It's for you."

With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny's kind daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime-store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny.

He had had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her genuine treasure.

So like our heavenly Father.

What are you hanging on to?

Angels Catched Me

Source: CBN

Ethan Payne was a typical two year old.

His mother, Tammy Payne, said Ethan was happy, bouncing, and jumping around.

"Before he was even born, we knew his life was going to be special," Tammy said.

One day Ethan was playing with his sister in an upstairs bedroom. He fell against the window, pushed the screen out, and fell from the second story to the ground.

Tammy's daughter, Annie, ran downstairs yelling, "Mommy, Mommy!"

"We had bunk beds in the room, so we thought – we assumed he had fallen off the top bunk," Tammy said.

Her daughter Annie said, “No he fell out of the window.”

"And I can remember running to the front door,". "And I vividly still remember seeing my hand being on the doorknob crying out,

'Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!' because I knew this was going to be bad."

 

Ethan fell 12 feet onto the concrete driveway. They found him barely conscious and squirming around, and knew they had to keep him still.

"And we just held him and immediately he just started going to sleep," Tammy said.

Then Tammy remembered that just a few weeks earlier she had prayed over Ethan.

She "prayed the blood of Jesus over him," and prayed that he would fulfill the call on his life, and that the "angels of God would protect him throughout his whole life."

"So when I saw him laying in the driveway I believe that the Holy Spirit brought those things back to my remembrance," Tammy said.

They rushed Ethan to the hospital.

" Even in the hospital,"  "the enemy was telling me, 'He’ll never walk again. He’ll have brain damage. If his neck isn’t broken, or his back isn’t broken, he’ll be paralyzed for life, and you’ll be pushing him around in a wheelchair.' Tammy said

"All those scenarios played out in your mind,". "And then seeing everything happening at the hospital you start to realize how bad this really can be."  Tammy said

"He’d look at you but you knew he wasn’t home," his father, Monty Payne said.

"They ran CAT scans, x-rays, MRIs," Tammy said.

"They had the c-collar, IVs, heart monitor, the full gamut, from head to toe he was covered in wires. And what they were doing is they were preparing for him to crash. They had everything in place waiting for him to redline, because that’s what they were expecting him to do."

"The doctors, they don’t give you very much hope when you’re talking to them," Monty said.

 "They’ll tell you the facts and what to expect next. We as believers need to declare what we’re going to see next."

Ethan had a life threatening concussion, and his brain was swelling. Doctors thought Ethan would either have brain damage or not survive at all. But his parents held on to their faith.

"We just declared that he would be healed and that the swelling would go down," Monty said.

"All those tests came back," Tammy said, "no brain damage, no broken bones, no spinal injury, and all those things got picked off one by one that the enemy was telling me, 'He’s going to be paralyzed. He’s going to have a broken neck. He’s going to be brain damaged.' And they (the doctors) just started ruling those out one by one."

Eventually Ethan's eyes refocused, and he was up talking, running around, laughing, and asking for Crayons.

"It was 3 o’clock in the morning and he was tearing the room up," Monty said. "He was a two-year-old. It looked like he had 12 cups of coffee in him."

"And the nurses were coming in saying,

'Where’s that little boy that fell out of the window?'

And we said, 'This is Ethan. This is him.'

And they said, 'No, no, no.

 The little boy that fell out of the window, the 12 foot.'

And we said, 'This is him.' And they were amazed.

Other doctors who were on staff there were coming in and they were saying,

'This is the little boy that fell out of the window.' So it was clear to them that this is something that just doesn’t happen. This was a miracle even in their eyes."

Today Ethan is a bouncing and jumping four year old. After falling from that second story window, he didn’t even spend a full night in the hospital.

"We know Jesus still does miracles today, because our son is still here with us," Tammy said.

Ethan doesn’t have any memory of the accident or the time he spent at the hospital. But he does have a simple explanation of what happened to him after he fell from the window.

"The angels catched me," Ethan said

We just Prayed

source :- Asiaharvest.org

Finally, after being asked again by the frustrated pastor, the girls apologized that they had been only able to start 30 churches since their arrival on Hainan Island!

The two new believers received Bibles and immediately wanted to serve God with all their hearts.

 A Hong Kong-based pastor met with the two and tried to teach them that they should remain where they were and minister to their neighbors.

The girls protested, “No! The Bible you gave us says Jesus told us to go into all the world. We want to go.”

Finally the pastor, feeling ashamed at his own comparative lack of zeal, relented and told the girls there was a need for workers on Hainan Island.

The duo had never heard of Hainan Island before but were certain God wanted them to preach the Gospel there.

Two years later the girls returned to the Chinese mainland where the pastor met with them. He had not heard any news since their departure.The Hong Kong pastor used the meeting to introduce the girls to several visiting Western church leaders. After introductions, the girls were asked how their work had been and whether or not they had been able to start any churches.

Lawrence explains, “The women put their heads down and answered,

‘Oh pastor, we have only been there two years...yea, two years. Not many. Not very many’. Their voices were apologetic.

‘We have only been there a short time. The people were not very friendly, no, not very friendly. Sometimes they became very vicious. Yes, sometimes they told us they were going to drown us in the ocean. Several men threatened us.

Oh my, and because we were so young, even some of the ladies did not like us. Yes, some even called us terrible names... so not many churches... no, not many’.”

Finally, after being asked again by the frustrated pastor, the girls apologized that they had been only able to start 30 churches since their arrival on Hainan Island!

The pastor and his Western friends were taken aback by the news. They asked how many people attended their new churches.

 After again going through a process of apologies and self-effacing comments, they answered, “Two hundred and twenty.”  The listeners presumed that meant the girls had won a total of 220 converts in their 30 churches, but 220 was the number of members in the smallest of their churches!

“How many people do you have in the largest of your churches,” the pastor demanded to know.

“Oh...not many.... Less than five thousand. Only four thousand nine hundred. Yes, less than five thousand. We have just started.”

 The Western visitors were so touched by the humility and zeal of the two young ladies that they began to weep. One of the visitors told the pastor to ask the two ladies how they managed to achieve such great results.

“What did we do? Why nothing. Yes, we did nothing, nothing.”

The amazed onlookers protested, “You did nothing? You have thirty churches – the smallest with two hundred and twenty people, the largest with almost five thousand new Christians!

And you did nothing?”

The two evangelists simply said,

“We just prayed.... After we prayed, the Holy Spirit would tell us exactly what to do. We would keep praying and He would tell us what to do, we would do it. Then we would pray again and he would tell us what to do again.

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Note:

When we first read this story of the two faithful girls, we were not sure of the story’s accuracy, as it almost sounded too good to be true. We sent the story to a friend who is an expert on the church in Hainan Island. Somewhat surprisingly, our informant responded that indeed the story is true, these two young women had done great exploits and planted many churches in the face of great opposition and struggle.

They primarily worked in southern Hainan Island, including several counties around Sanya City.

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If you never felt pain, then how would you know that I am a Healer?  

If you never had to pray, How would you know that I am a Deliverer?

If you never had a trial, how could you call yourself an overcomer?

If you never felt sadness, How would you know that I am a Comforter?

If you never made a mistake, How would you know that I am a forgiver?

If you knew all, How would you know that I will answer your questions?

If you never were in trouble, How would you know that I will come to your rescue

If you never were broken, Then how would you know that I can make you whole?

If you never had a problem,How would you know that I can solve them?

If you never had any suffering, Then how would you know what I went through?

If you never went through the fire, Then how would you become pure?

If I gave you all things, How would you appreciate them?

If I never corrected you, How would you know that I love you?

If you had all power, Then how would you learn to depend on me?

If your life was perfect, Then what would you need me for?

Love,
Jesus


God our Father, walk through my house and take away all my worries and illnesses and please watch over and heal my family in Jesus name, Amen. 

The Importance of Loving Others

''Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.'' 1 John 4:7

Recently, a 12-year-old boy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, hung himself. Why? Because the next day was his first day at a new school, he was overweight, and he dreaded being taunted by other children. Few things are more painful than shame.

One of the greatest kindnesses we can show others is to take away their false shame through love and acceptance.

When the disciples met a man who was blind from birth they asked Jesus, 'His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”'(John 9:2).

They weren't concerned that the man needed help or that he'd spent his life in total darkness. No, they started discussing his shortcomings - right in front of him!

 It's easier to label people than love them. We label things because we think we know what's inside, and we label people for the same reason.

We'd rather debate homosexuality than befriend someone who's gay, condemn divorce than help its victims, argue about abortion than support an orphanage, or gripe about social services than help the poor.

Jesus didn't see this blind man as a victim of fate, he saw him as an opportunity waiting to happen.

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him". (John 9:3).

 If you don't love people, you don't love God; actually, you don't even know Him!

You need to pray, 'Lord, remind me today that the greatest gift I have to give others, is Your love.' When you get serious and begin to pray that way, people will open up to God's help and healing.

A Cinderella Story

Max Lucado

Source: "Gentle Thunder"

My friend Kenny and his family had just returned from Disney World. "I saw a sight I'll never forget," he said.

 "I want you to know about it."

He and his family were inside Cinderella's castle. It was packed with kids and parents.

Suddenly all the children rushed to one side. Had it been a boat, the castle would have tipped over. Cinderella had entered.

Cinderella. The pristine princess. Kenny said she was perfectly typecast.

A gorgeous young girl with each hair in place, flawless skin, and a beaming smile. She stood waist-deep in a garden of kids, each wanting to touch and be touched.

For some reason Kenny turned and looked toward the other side of the castle.

 It was now vacant except for a boy maybe seven or eight years old. His age was hard to determine because of the disfigurement of his body.

 Dwarfed in height, face deformed, he stood watching quietly and wistfully, holding the hand of an older brother.

Don't you know what he wanted?

He wanted to be with the children. He longed to be in the middle of the kids reaching for Cinderella, calling her name. But can't you feel his fear, fear of yet another rejection?

Fear of being taunted again, mocked again? Don't you wish Cinderella would go to him? Guess what? She did!

She noticed the little boy. She immediately began walking in his direction.

Politely but firmly inching through the crowd of children, she finally broke free. She walked quickly across the floor, knelt at eye level with the stunned little boy, and placed a kiss on his face.

"I thought you would appreciate the story," Kenny told me.

I did. It reminded me of the one you and I have been studying.

 The names are different, but isn't the story almost the same?

Rather than a princess of Disney, we've been considering the Prince of Peace. Rather than a boy in a castle, we've looked at a thief on a cross.

In both cases a gift was given. In both cases love was shared. In both cases the lovely one performed a gesture beyond words.

But Jesus did more than Cinderella. Oh, so much more.

Cinderella gave only a kiss. When she stood to leave, she took her beauty with her. The boy was still deformed. What if Cinderella had done what Jesus did?

What if she'd assumed his state? What if she had somehow given him her beauty and taken on his disfigurement?

That's what Jesus did.

"He took our suffering on him and felt our pain for us.. He was wounded for the wrong we did; he was crushed for the evil we did. The punishment, which made us well, was given to him, and we are healed because of his wounds" (Isa. 53:4-5).

Make no mistake:

Jesus gave more than a kiss--he gave his beauty.
He paid more than a visit--he paid for our mistakes.
He took more than a minute--he took away our sin.